Ante Juric

Born in Canberra, Ante Juric was arguably one of Australia’s most cultured defenders. A product of local club, Canberra Deakin (now Canberra FC) he played professionally for 13 years in Australia, Europe and Asia.

Ante first represented Australia in every game at the World Youth Championships in 1993 where Australia come fourth after losing to Brazil in the semi-final.

He started his senior representative career late after he produced a heroic performance by playing with a dislocated elbow in the 2002 National Soccer League Grand Final win with Sydney Olympic over Perth Glory at Subiaco Oval.

He went on to play for the Socceroos (cap 471) four times including against New Caledonia in the 2002 Oceania nations Cup final in Auckland. It was surprising to many that Ante did not play more times for the national team.

Ante had a very successful National Soccer League career playing in over 200 games and scoring over 20 goals for Melbourne Knights, Sydney Olympic and the Canberra Cosmos.

Technically, Ante was second to none, his vision and composure often stopped opposition raids and inevitably started raids.

Ante has retired from international football and has turned his career towards coaching. He started this new journey in football at Westfield Sports High with the elite boys and girls squads and is now at Trinity Grammar School where he is in charge of all football programs at the school.

He’s also been an assistance coach with Sydney FC in the Westfield W-league and has worked with the New South Wales Institute of Sport high performance squads.

In April 2009, Ante was appointed as the Australian under 13 boys national team coach, to lead the inaugural Asian Football confederation Festival of Football male teams to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.